Bruxelles
From Innovationclass
My Innovative Organization (from Yahoo! Group)
In thinking about ways to make an organization comprised of twenty-five people consistently innovative, I thought of one immediate criterion that needed to happen. The people absolutely must have a desire to be at work, otherwise they won't be able to work as effectively as someone who enjoys being at the organization.
I decided my organization would have something to do with creating products that can be used by people all over the world: a global products company. I want the company, we'll call it COMx, to be located in a major city other than New York, such as San Francisco or Boston. I want the company to have offices in a building that is at least a couple stories tall, with large windows that provide excellent light as well as a view of something within the city, such as bridge views in San Francisco or river views in Boston. Just something of interest to see when the employees look out the window. The office will take up the entire floor of the building, with offices, conference rooms, a kitchen, and general workspace.
There will be teams among the twenty five members of COMx; one for research, one for product development, one for sales and marketing, and one for other business and accounting purposes. There will be someone in charge of each team, and they will have their own offices. Instead of corner offices or offices that take up outside window space, the four team leader offices will be in the middle of the office floor, backed up against each other to form a center island of sorts. The other employees will have desks with low walled partitions so they can pin up things they are working on, but it won't feel like living in a cube. They will be grouped by team, with one team getting one section of the office's open general workspace.
There will be one standard conference room for when clients come to visit, and another more informal space with couches in additions to the traditional table and chairs. Fun things to do when a break is needed will be scattered around the office, such as a mini-putting green, shuffleboard, and a pin-ball machine.
The research team will be responsible for finding out what products are needed and wanted in all parts of the world and figuring out, in collaboration with the product development team, how that information can be translated into a new, innovative product. The research team will go on a trip every other week to a new country or city to do up-close and personal research to find new ideas. Each team member would report to their team leader, and the four team leaders share responsibility equally.
There will be an open flow of communication between all employees at COMx, and weekly or bi-weekly status meetings in the informal conference room will allow everyone to share their ideas and feedback as to what is going on in the company. Email would be the standard for communication, just because it is technologically simple and easy to use, but face-to-face communication would be extremely important as well. There would also be suggestion boards placed around the office for each team's subject that anyone could write on with tips or questions or suggestions. Each employee will have a laptop that they can bring with them to meetings or to various places around the office, and each will have a feature such as iChat, allowing continuous communication between employees. All communication would be welcome.
COMx will value openness and honesty in their employees. If someone has a problem, then it should be brought out into the open and dealt with in a fair manner. The company also values hard work and dedication to the work being done. Communication is key to generating great ideas that keep the company innovative.
To remain innovative, the teams will keep pushing themselves to look at situations from different viewpoints and try to see everything in multiple ways. The research team's travels to different countries will provide a constant source of new information and inspiration that the rest of COMx can take and translate into innovative new products for the global market. Once innovative, the company and its employees won't slack off or spend too much time playing shuffleboard. Instead, they will continue to be dedicated to their work but also understand how important it is to take time to have fun to make sure you enjoy coming to work each day.
Interesting Topic: The World Famous Bushman (from Yahoo! Group)
Hey guys...I know we were talking about homeless people in class on Thursday, and the Bush Man was brought up. He's the guy in San Francisco who hangs out at Fisherman's Wharf behind some tree branches scaring unsuspecting people walking by. It's so much better in person, but the YouTube video shows you what it's like to watch him scare people. It's hilarious, especially when he gets big guys to scream. He jumped out and scared my mom when she was pregnant with me, so that tells you how long he's been doing this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Famous_Bushman
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aVI3Y9VT8uE
February 7 Summary (from Yahoo! Group)
Class began with rearranging the room. We discussed the process behind rearranging and how we can make the room a place we enjoy spending time in. Slayden talked about working within the limitations of the Blur Lab and how that became a successful space.
We discussed differences between principles and rules. Principles are similar to rules, but more positive with room for error. They can change as situations change, and are like guidelines. Rules don't change; they are defined, specific and set in stone. Rules are more about negative things (you can't) but can be good sometimes. Rules impose order and are social control mechanisms.
We will develop an innovative manifesto based on principles, not rules, allowing us to adapt to different situations.
Innovative Company: Southwest (from Yahoo! Group)
I chose to research more about Southwest Airlines, #25 on the innovations list. I chose Southwest because it is the airline that I fly the most and I really like flying Southwest. I remember the day Southwest opened the Denver to Oakland route, and needless to say, it was a very happy one for me. I really like flying Southwest because I know exactly what I'm going to get on my flight: happy and sometimes singing crew, pretzels and a coke, and a lettered boarding pass to let me pick my own seat. I don't expect anything more from Southwest, but sometimes they surprise me. It was a flight attendant's birthday one time, and as we flew over Nevada, the crew led the entire cabin in singing "Happy Birthday" to her. It was one of those moments that would only work on a Southwest flight.
Some sites dealing with Southwest are:
www.southwest.com, the company's website.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines, the wikipedia page.
http://www.blogsouthwest.com, the official Southwest blog
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0703/gallery.mostadmired_top20.fortu\\ ne/5.html, Southwest is the #5 most admired company, according to Fortune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR7JApjgIGw, a Southwest commercial from 1972
Innovative Blogs (from Yahoo! Group)
These are my ten blogs on innovation!
IdeaFlow http://ideaflow.corante.com/
This blog is about the latest in innovations trends and practices in the business world. I think it's relevant because of the number of categories available to read posts from, finding something relevant to what you're looking for. I chose it because it was easy to navigate and I found myself reading a post about innovative Christmas tree decorations, and who doesn't love that?!
Chris Brauer Media Project
http://www.chrisbrauer.com/weblog/
This blog features ideas ranging from pop culture, politics, technology, business, philosophy, media, sport, and life in general from Chris Brauer, the owner of Smoothmedia Inc. This blog is relevant because it gives perspective from an entrepreneur who really knows his stuff. I picked it because Chris Brauer is Canadian, and getting innovation ideas from someone other than an American is a nice change.
Venture Capital Cafe
http://www.vccafe.com
This blog is about innovative technologies, early stage start-ups, and venture capital news with a spotlight on Israel. This blog is relevant because of its focus on Israel. I picked this blog because it is interesting to frame innovation around the situation in Israel, which is something I think we could learn from immensely.
Design Sojourn
http://www.designsojourn.com
This blog is all about designing and creating clever products with focus on industrial design, design entrepreneurship, design innovation, and design management. This blog is relevant because of the focus on creation of new, innovative products, which I'm assuming is what every company is striving for in new product development. I chose this blog because I find design to be extremely interesting, and I'd like to gain new insight into why things are designed the way they are, and what makes design innovative.
Tiny Gigantic
http://www.tinygigantic.com
This blog is described as an inspiration feed for people interested in creativity, design, media, and culture. This blog is relevant because it is a good place to go for inspiration ideas about innovation, which is a necessary step sometimes in coming up with new ideas. I chose this blog because I am interested in the four listed topics: creativity, design, media, and culture, and I figured that I could get some great information and inspiration out of the blog.
Innovation: A Glimpse into the Creative World
http://blog.cestudios.ca/
This blog states that creativity and innovation are accessible to everyone, and offers insights about innovative concepts, tools, and resources. This is relevant because the blog offers concepts, tools, resources, news, and tips about innovation. I picked this blog because I liked their general statement that creativity and innovation are for everyone.
Think Simple. Be Decisive.
http://thinksimplenow.com
This blog focuses on finding clarity, motivation, productivity and happiness for innovative development and growth in business. This is relevant because the blog has laid out simple steps towards positive change that have been personally practiced, so it is most likely reliable information for those wanting change. I chose this blog because I liked the blog's goal: to create practical and applicable articles aimed at making a positive contribution to my (and others') life, and I always welcome positive change in my life.
Sustainablog
http://sustainablog.blogspot.com
This blog is dedicated to news, information and personal meanderings related to innovation in environmental and economic sustainability, green and sustainable business, and environmental politics. This is relevant because environmentalism and sustainability are such important issues right now, and innovations in these areas are extremely important. I picked this blog because I am very interested in sustainability and am working on a project involving biodiesel, so I would like to learn more about it all.
David Report
http://davidreport.com/blog
This blog covers the intersection of design, culture and business life with a creative and humanistic approach. I feel that this is relevant because I believe that business and culture are going to become even further intertwined in the future. I chose this blog because I liked the mix of culture and design mixed in with business news with innovation always being around the topics written about.
The EBay Millionaire
http://www.thinkbigg.com/blog/
This blog is written by Dave Novak, who calls himself the EBay Millionaire, even though he did not invent EBay, although he did make a bunch of money through it. The blog is all about his system of making so much money in an innovative way. This is relevant because it is a good story that Novak hopes other can learn from and capitalize upon. I chose this blog because I liked how Novak wanted to share his success and how he got to where he is today with the average blog reader.
HBR New Ideas (from Yahoo! Group)
When I read through the list, the one new idea that stuck out to me the most wasn't necessarily a new idea, but one that I think will be a real asset to the business community if it is implemented.
"Task, Not Time: Profile of a Gen Y Job" by Tamara J. Erickson talked about how people should be paid not for their time, but instead for how much work they do. Getting paid by the results you accomplish or how much work you actually put in seems like a better idea to me than just paying someone to waste time and do nothing.
I think this could do away with a lot of wasted time which would make everything more productive and possibly more innovative. I think people should still have time to take breaks and goof around at work to lighten up the monotony of working, but maybe this could be worked into a new type of salary structure or something like that.
